UNECE’s city profile of Podgorica, Montenegro, to support smart urban development

In recent years, Montenegro and its capital city, Podgorica, have been committed to accelerate sustainable and smart urban development through a variety of ambitious national and regional and local measures, such as digitalization of public services, modernization of public transport, and to increase environmental protection.  

However, these development aspirations have been slowed down by a lack of data and planning documents at the regional level, which have prevented the local government of Podgorica to accurately assess issues around illegal construction and energy efficiency.  

The Smart Sustainable City Profile of Podgorica, Montenegro, aims to support the Podgorica city government to realize its vision of becoming a smart and sustainable city. It was developed under the United Nations Development Account (UNDA) project “Smart Sustainable Cities for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda in the UNECE Region” and was carried out by UNECE, in close cooperation with the Secretariat for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development of Podgorica and the Ministry for Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism of Montenegro.  

The preparation of the city profile started with an evaluation of the performance of Podgorica using the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC). These include 91 indicators which cover four dimensions - economy, environment, and society and culture.  

The evaluation was followed by a desk review of relevant national and local development plans and initiatives and face-to-face interviews with key national and local government officials to gain insights into the city’s immediate and strategic long-term priority needs and development challenges.  

This city profile not only provides an evaluation of performance for smartness and sustainability of Podgorica but also action-oriented recommendations to upscale development and sustainability efforts in different areas. 

The action-oriented policy recommendations of the city profile will assist the city government of Podgorica to address its urban challenges, including by developing data collection and monitoring capacities, improving sustainable urban planning, as well as utility services, urban mobility and energy efficiency.